The Chicago Bears are going into year two of the Ben Johnson era looking to take that next step and become a true contender after coming up just short of the NFC Championship a year ago. Majority of the offensive starters are returning along with some hopeful upgrades on the defensive side of the ball. A year ago leading up to training camp, the Bears were still in the early phases of learning how Johnson wants to do things, so this year they should hit the ground running once camp starts.
There will be a handful of position battles this summer headlined by the left tackle position as well as the second cornerback spot. If we had to guess right now, those positions would be filled by Braxton Jones and Tyrique Stevenson due to their experience. However, there are a bunch of new faces in the building that will be coming for these positions, and we know Ben and the staff will keep it a true competition until someone separates themselves from the pack.
There are also some veterans coming off injuries so we will need to see if Johnson and company elect to play those guys a bit or rest them fully. We are looking directly at you, Kyler Gordon.
Training camp and joint practices are a good way to gauge where the team stands leading up to the season, but the preseason games will give some of the bubble players on the roster an opportunity to show their worth.
Bears Announce 2026 Preseason Schedule
The Bears' lone home game of the preseason will be August 15th against the Browns. It will be interesting to see who gets the first-team snaps at quarterback for the Browns as Deshaun Watson returns this season but likely competing with Shedeur Sanders for the spot. Expect to see a lot of Tyson Bagent in these games as Caleb Williams knows this offense now and the risk of injury does not outweigh the reward of additional preseason snaps.
After the Browns, the Bears will travel to Cincinnati to face off against Joe Burrow (maybe?) and the Bengals on August 22nd. If both teams play their starters in this game, it should give us a solid idea of how the Bears will match up against some elite level talent this season. Ideally, we see the Bengals starting offense here to give the Bears’ new-look defense some quality competition.
Cam Ward and the Titans will cap off the Bears' preseason on August 29th. Ward will be entering his sophomore season and looking to build on some flashes he made a year ago. Last year we saw Caleb Williams and the starters get the entire first half of the last preseason game against the Chiefs. As mentioned earlier, the Bears were all learning an entirely new system at that time, so the reps were pivotal. With the core of the team being in place for the most part and knowing the system this season, we’ll have to wait and see if the starters get as much time in this preseason finale as they did a year ago.Â
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